Ciuleandra

Language : Romanian

 

Year of release : 1985

 

Run time : 1h52min

 

Genre : Drama / Romance

 

 

Directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu,one of Romania's best actors and movie directors, and based on the novel by Liviu Rebreanu of the same name,the movie is a beautiful tale of love and loss,and how money is not everything.

 

The movie opens with Puiu,the lead character, killing his wife. Scared, he runs downstairs,to his father, and confesses the crime. He said he had no reason for it ,but he still did it.

 

His father, being a member of the government,he makes it so,instead of going to jail, he is put in a mental institution. The room he is given looks like a hotel room,and Puiu( such an unfortunate name) still feels claustrophobic, due to the fact the nurses and doctor lock the door to his room!

 

He has nightmares of times when he was a kid,and dreams of his beautiful wife. Slowly but surely,we get to see how he met her,and eventually he tells the story to his doctor. It turns out there was a motive,after all.

 

Ciuleandra is the name of a Romanian folk dance,that the lead character was obsessed with,as it was the dance his wife was dancing at her village festivity,when he first laid eyes on her.

 

The acting was fine,the actors,especially the lead and Madalina, his murdered wife,beautiful.

 

The movie has beautiful houses and interior design,in the peasant houses the viewer can find the Romanian traditional motifs. The peasants are in the Romanian national outfits.

 

I personally enjoyed the movie,and was keen to watch more Romanian movies,which,I never watched!

 

Here's the YouTube link to the movie with English subtitles : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRT8Uwdd7uA

 

 

Rating : It's so money !